Winner takes all: Tara, 26, is hands-down the best female snowboarder in the world. This year she’s already taken home gold medals in the 2001 Winter X Games, the Vans Triple Crown, and the Sims World Championship. And if the Winter Gravity Games still existed, Tara, the 2000 gold medal winner, would have won that again, too.

Play hard, party hard: There is nothing—water towers, handrails, buses—that Tara won’t slide off. “I’ve rented U-Hauls just to build a ramp and do backflips off it,” Tara says.

No fear: “There are always going to be times when I eat shit, because I’m not afraid of getting hurt,” says Tara. “I’ve fractured my back, dislocated elbows, and torn ligaments in both knees. I’ve gotten whiplash six or seven times this year and who knows how many concussions. This sport is all or nothing.”

Girl powder: “When I’m on the mountain I’m probably the furthest thing from feminine,” Tara says. “But I also enjoy being a girl. There’s nothing wrong with being an athlete and a beautiful woman.”